Colorado Elk — GMU 9

Colorado GMU 9 covers 247,454 acres and lies 11 miles north-west of Wellington and 21 miles north of Fort Collins. 3% of it is public land, mostly state land (3%). In 2024, 197 people hunted elk here and took 77 — 39% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 293 tags here for 413 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):925 Nonresident share:capped at 25% Applicants:642 Hunter success (2024):39% Public land:3% Size:247,454 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 9, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

14 licenses on offer · 925 tags · 642 applicants in the 2026 draw

Chances are from the 2026 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level
  • EE007O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 7 [7, 8, 9, 19, 191] 293 tags · 413 applicants · needed 0 pts · Standard
    32% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EE007O1A elk either-sex archery season 1 GMU 7 [7, 8, 9, 19, 191] 31 tags · 12 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    29% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • EF007O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 7 [7, 8, 9, 19, 191] 35 tags · 27 applicants · Standard
    100% Likely draw 48% as 2nd choice
  • EF007O1M elk female muzzleloader season 1 GMU 7 [7, 8, 9, 19, 191] 8 tags · 1 applicants · needed 0 pts · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EF009L1R elk female rifle late season GMU 9 [9] 28 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    Cut level
  • EF009P5R elk female rifle private-land-only GMU 9 [9] 248 tags · 4 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EM007O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 7 [7, 8, 9, 19, 191] 92 tags · 166 applicants · needed 1 pts · Standard
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM007O1M elk male muzzleloader season 1 GMU 7 [7, 8, 9, 19, 191] 9 tags · 9 applicants · needed 1 pts · Youth
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM009O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 9 25 tags · 3 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • EM009O1R elk male rifle season 1 GMU 9 50 tags · 2 applicants · Youth
    100% Undersubscribed
  • EM009O2R elk male rifle season 2 GMU 9 [9] 21 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 67% as 2nd choice
  • EM009O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 9 [9] 20 tags · 2 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 50% as 2nd choice
  • EM009O3R elk male rifle season 3 GMU 9 [9] 40 tags · 0 applicants · Youth
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • EM009O4R elk male rifle season 4 GMU 9 25 tags · 1 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 33% as 2nd choice
What these columns mean
Your odds
the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2026 draw. Not a forecast: quotas and demand move every year.
The badge
plain language for that number. Likely draw 75% or better · Real chance 40%+ · Long shot 15%+ · Point builder below that, so you are applying mainly to bank a point · Undersubscribed means fewer first-choice applicants than tags, so everyone who applied drew.
As 2nd choice
Colorado lets you name more than one hunt on the application. Miss on your first choice and you go into the pot for whatever tags are left, alongside everyone else's second choices. Points never help a lower choice, so this number is the same whatever you have banked — it is usually worth naming a hunt that goes undersubscribed.
Points needed
the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2026 draw, and how that cut has moved since the earliest draw we hold.
Tags / applicants
tags on offer and first-choice applicants for them, as the agency published them. Under five tags we print counts instead of a percentage, because one applicant either way swings it.

What it costs to apply (2026 nonresident fees)

License Up front Gone if you miss If you draw
Standard license $129.11 $129.11 $974.27
Youth license $129.11 $129.11 $974.27

Application window: opens Mar 1, closes Apr 7, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

The country

Wellington Johnstown Lafayette Englewood Steamboat Springs
GMU 9 within Colorado
19 191 7 8 87 951 Wellington Fort Collins Windsor
GMU 9 and its neighbours
Zoomable USGS topo, aerial imagery and shaded relief, with the neighboring areas drawn on.

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Who owns the ground

  • Private 239,393 ac · 97%
  • State land 6,797 ac · 3%
  • County or city land 1,120 ac · 0%
  • BLM 131 ac · 0%

Source: BLM Colorado Surface Management Agency

How the hunting has gone

What Colorado Parks and Wildlife publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast. Colorado's figures come from CPW's post-season hunter survey. CPW's 2025 report dropped the per-GMU table in favour of hunt-code rows, so the newest year shown here is 2024.

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2024 197 77 39%
2023 185 57 31%
2022 208 83 40%
2021 217 75 35%

What people carried (2024 harvest)

  • Rifle 70 · 90% · 170 hunters, 41% success
  • Archery 2 · 3% · 21 hunters, 10% success
  • Muzzleloader 6 · 8% · 6 hunters, 100% success

Boundary: CPW GMU Boundary (Big Game)

Harvest: 2024 Statewide Elk Harvest

Harvest: 2023 Statewide Elk Hunting Harvest Estimates

Harvest: 2022 Statewide Elk Harvest

How we compute draw odds · All Colorado elk hunts